高僧傳 5.15

5.15

未終之前，隱士王嘉往候安，安曰：「世事如此，行將及人，相與去乎？」嘉曰：「誠如所言，師並前行，僕有小債未了，不得俱去。」及姚萇之得長安也，嘉時故在城內，萇與符登相持甚久，萇乃問嘉：「朕當得登不？」答曰：「略得。」萇怒曰：「得當言得，何略之有！」遂斬之，此嘉所謂負債者也。萇死後，其子興方殺登。興字子略，即嘉所謂「略得」者也。嘉字子年，洛陽人也，形貌鄙陋，似若不足。本滑稽，好語笑，然不食五穀，清虛服氣，人咸宗而事之。往問善惡，嘉隨而應答，語則可笑，狀如調戲，辭似讖記，不可領解，事過多驗。初養徒於加眉谷中，符堅遣大鴻臚徵不就。及堅將欲南征，遣問休否，嘉無所言，乃乘使者馬，佯向東行數百步，因落靴帽，解棄衣服，奔馬而還，以示堅壽春之敗，其先見如此。及姚萇害嘉之日，有人於壟上見之，乃遺書於萇。安之潛契神人，皆此類也。

Before he passed away, the hermit Wang Jia went to visit Dao'an. Dao'an said: "Worldly affairs being as they are, catastrophe will soon overtake people; shall we depart together?" Jia said: "It is truly as you say. Master, please go ahead; I have a small debt that is not yet settled, so I cannot leave with you." When Yao Chang captured Chang'an, Jia was still within the city walls. Chang and Fu Deng were locked in a stalemate for a long time, so Chang asked Jia: "Shall I capture Deng or not?" He replied: "You will catch him略 [summarily/Lüe]." Chang angrily said: "If I will capture him, say you will capture him; what is this about 'summarily' (lüe)?" He thereupon beheaded him; this was what Jia had meant by "owing a debt." After Chang died, his son Xing finally killed Deng; Xing's courtesy name was Zilüe, which was what Jia had meant by "lüe [Zilüe] will capture him." Jia, styled Zinian, was a native of Luoyang; his appearance was crude and humble, seeming almost deficient. By nature he was humorous and fond of joking and laughing, yet he did not eat the five grains, nourishing his qi in purity and emptiness, so people all revered and served him. When they came to ask about fortune or misfortune, Jia would answer accordingly; his words were amusing, appearing like teasing banter, and his phrasing resembled prophetic verses that could not be easily grasped, yet after events transpired, they proved mostly accurate. At first he trained disciples in Jiamei Valley; Fu Jian sent the Chamberlain for Dependencies to summon him, but he did not accept. When Jian was about to embark on the southern expedition, he sent someone to ask whether it would be auspicious or not. Jia said nothing; he merely mounted the envoy's horse and pretended to ride several hundred paces to the east, upon which he dropped his boots and hat, took off and abandoned his garments, and galloped the horse back, thereby presaging Jian's defeat at Shouchun. Such was his prescience. On the day Yao Chang executed Jia, someone saw him upon a ridge, and he delivered a letter to Chang. Dao'an's tacit communion with divine beings was entirely of this sort.